Going out on a high

Dave Woodhall on Villa’s latest win, at home to Queens Park Rangers.

It’s getting to be a habit. You turn up at Villa Park, watch Jonathan Kodjia score, panic a bit as the team sit ever-deeper and let inferior opponents dictate the game, then cheer the final whistle before going home to celebrate another three points.

Tuesday night’s match against QPR began with Villa looking like they wanted to get it over early. Adomah hit the post, there were another couple of chances and Kodjia scored, all within the first five minutes. That thumping we’ve been telling ourselves we were going to hand out soon was on the cards. Then…

I don’t know why it is, but the team seem incapable of continuing to carry on playing well once they’ve scored. Complacency, or a feeling of what we have, we hold, or whatever the reason, it’s annoying and eventually it will cost us. The visitors were there for the taking and like Norwich on Saturday, were rattled every time Villa attacked. Had Villa been a bit more adventurous they could easily have scored another two or three. As it was, a couple of wasted chances and a goal-line clearance from a Nathan Baker header was all we had and meant a more anxious wait for the final whistle than was necessary.

You can’t compain about 21 points from eight games but I’d like to see a bit more flair to go with the wins. As it is, I left the ground once again thinking that the best performances came from defenders. For my money Baker and Mile Jedinak can argue amongst themselves who should be named man of the match while the rest of Villa’s back line are steady enough – one goal conceded in those eight games speaks for itself – even if I do I still dread to think what would happen to them every week if the miracle did occur.

The gap between us and sixth place has now shrunk to nine points but there really is no point thinking of what ifs and what might have beens. We are where we are, we aren’t going anywhere this season so a bit more imagination in the final six games would be good and wouldn’t really cost us much. Let’s see Andre Green having a few starts, Jack Grealish given the opportunity to show that his talent isn’t going to be completely wasted and let’s end a disappointing season with a smile.